Reflection

It's been a while since I posted. I've been keeping good notes on my training by just describing my workouts on the schedule that Trevor sends me each week. A few weeks back I was wondering when the fitness would return (whatever I had supposedly accrued last year when I ran a lot); my runs were a little tough, I felt heavy and the oxygen seemed, at some of those efforts, to be endangered. People told me and I pretty much assumed as much, that I just had to give it a little time, etc. Sure enough things came back. My typical week has been:

M - 1:10 steady, core work
T - 45 min. steady, soft surface. This can adjust to 20 min w/u, 20 min tempo (I ran one day barefoot on the beach)
W - Off (I asked Trevor if I should do some core and he said "I don't even want you to think about running, training, etc. Day off." That's been a great added feature to my training, one I will enforce always and recommend it to others. You're given a little more motivation to nail the work-outs leading up to the day-off, and the day after the off day is pretty fun because you naturally want to get after it!)
TH - 1:15 hilly run. I hit the trails, hills on this. Great mid-week work, following a day-off. I love it.
F - 45 min easy with some strides, core
S - 1 to 2 hours of cross training (riding the bike, spinning), core.
S - 1:40 hilly run.

Trevor tends to emphasize that on my longer runs (Tues, Sun) to work the hills. That's cool :)

So, with a couple of weeks of this, I was feeling great. This coincided with some very warm weather in the area. We've had a couple of week+ stints of santa ana conditions so running and feeling pretty fired-up about it all has been easy. Getting out in the early a.m. has been feasible (I'm still not dialed in on that and I better start!). All in all great stuff.

Then the weather turned. About a week ago, it got very cold (certainly this is relative, but considering the heat, the change was pretty drastic). My son proceeded to get a very bad cold, which means, generally, an asthmatic cold where our entire experience (sleep, work, school, play) gets thrown under the bus.

We were actually in the hospital for a day, so that was obviously really tough. Jack has bounced back, thankfully. Being in the hospital for a day is like being on an airplane for a day. Needless to say, I caught a little cold. This was on a Friday. I had nailed a Thursday big run (I mean nailed it!) and then Friday was in the hospital, Saturday was an aerobic work-out (run, spin), Sunday was off. Trevor proceeded to tell me to take a few days off to get better. I did. Felt good.

This past week was off until Friday when I did 45 min. easy, Sat. 1:10 very "steady" and Sunday 1:40 at the gym alternating between running and spinning. I'm still just a little less than 100% and Valentine's day/night was a cool date with my wife - we went big.

(As I write this post it is pouring rain outside. We have two days of this on the schedule and then perhaps some So Cal weather to return.)

So, my life and training have really reflected the weather. That's a natural thing (good) and a bad thing. I think my program can improve in that I am getting my work-outs done earlier in the day. This seems to affect mental health, diet, and work/family life. Perfect example. Last Sat.'s work-out (1:10 very steady, with some little fartlek surges) felt amazing. The rest of the day was great, getting errands done, motivating the family and then going out that night on a hot date. The dinner was really rich (we went big). And there was a little beer and wine, but not much. I think the food played a huge factor. Sunday morning, go do your 1:40 run! I slept-in. I had coffee. Before I knew it, I was doing some errands with family, having a big lunch (not the best health-wise) and then getting in my "long run" in the late afternoon. It was below average. Between Sat. great run and Sunday's long run, I had misbehaved badly on the diet. If I had eaten more intelligently on Sat. night and gotten in my long run early Sun. morn, different man, different athlete. We are what we breathe.

One last note on the program. Last year I was doing a lot of MAF training (strictly aerobic). It was tough mentally, but I was getting the work done, improving certainly on my fitness, etc. The real key to that, I think, reflecting back on it, was that I never got hurt. I had some plantar fascia issues, but that was more a lack of strength that I worked on and got rid off. That was from the sheer consistency of my running. I ran a lot.

This year, really no HRM running. Trevor has had me running "steady" and in the hills regularly (though we just at the beginning of this program). Some of my efforts have been too hard. In fact, getting back at it since this recent cold, I might have strained a muscle in my lower leg resulting in a dull pain that runs through the calf area and into the foot. This affected my Sun. "long run" too, which is another reason I alternated between spin and run, getting my 1:40 in.

I again have to note some of the obvious and well documented benefits of the LSD movement. It's to build the engine, the chasis, the habits the body will need for the long season. I'm not saying I'm injured, but there's a little concern. My training and life reflect the environment. The inconsistent weather, the health, the program are dictating a little too much. I need to be smarter and more practical.

On the flip side, work has been going great. I've started a little side business that's under the table for now, but I hope to keep growing it. One of Gordo's recent posts kinda touched on the importance of certain emphases (work) under certain conditions (recession). Trim "the fat," which means stay busy and spend time with people who matter, who inspire you to succeed.